Computer systems are currently in wide use. Some such systems are customized (some significantly) before they are deployed at an end user's site. Such systems often also have updates which can be installed.
By way of example, some such computer systems include business systems, such as customer relations management (CRM) systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, line-of-business (LOB) systems, etc. In these types of systems, a general business system is first purchased by a user, or customer, and the user or customer often makes customizations, extensions or other modifications to that general business system, in order to obtain their own customized deployment.
Such systems often have updates published for them. The updates can include new releases, as well as bug fixes. For instance, when new releases of the business system are generated, they are often followed by a number of bug fixes for problems that were not fixed prior to release. The fixes are normally released, piecemeal, as they are generated. Periodically, however, a cumulative update package is released which includes all of the fixes generated, to that point. In the past, the cumulative update package was typically provided to the end-user in the form of fixed-media, such as on a CD-ROM. This cumulative update may, for example, include hundreds or even thousands of fixes and/or upgrades. In the case of a cumulative update, if the customer decides to defer installation of the update, the software system may lag behind by failing to leverage feature enhancements or performance optimizations that are part of the cumulative update.
Currently, users of customized software systems do not have an effective way to determine what critical updates are available at any given point. Thus, the users are limited in their ability to proactively obtain critical or even desirable updates as needed. Instead, such users await releases of fixed-media updates that may then be scheduled for deployment to the customized software system. Unlike an update to a desktop computer, these updates may affect tens or even hundreds of computers working together to provide an important function for an enterprise.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.